Joshua Boy
How popular is Joshua?
#66 boy name in 2025
4,773 baby boys were named Joshua in the US in 2025, making it the 66th most popular boy name.
Joshua popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #66 for boys (▼ 9 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 4,773 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling fast (-52% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #33 in 2015, #53 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 1989 (44,100 boys) |
| Highest rank | #3 in 2002 (5 years at that rank) |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 3% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Joshua counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Joshua family of names ranked #74 for boys in 2025 (#65 the year before), with 4,783 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Joshua | 4,773 | 100% |
| Joshuah | 10 | 0% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Joshua is most popular
Babies named Joshua per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Delaware: 6.5 per 1,000 (99 boys)
- Alaska: 5.4 per 1,000 (64 boys)
- District of Columbia: 5.3 per 1,000 (78 boys)
- Maryland: 5.3 per 1,000 (630 boys)
- Hawaii: 4.8 per 1,000 (74 boys)
Joshua by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 465 | #202 |
| 1890s | 287 | #284 |
| 1900s | 243 | #365 |
| 1910s | 926 | #396 |
| 1920s | 1,143 | #539 |
| 1930s | 948 | #560 |
| 1940s | 1,156 | #489 |
| 1950s | 2,221 | #440 |
| 1960s | 5,326 | #197 |
| 1970s | 140,318 | #9 |
| 1980s | 396,524 | #4 |
| 1990s | 329,192 | #4 |
| 2000s | 232,053 | #3 |
| 2010s | 106,273 | #11 |
| 2020s | 31,854 | #53 |
Boy names about as popular as Joshua
Questions
- Is Joshua a boy or girl name?
- Joshua is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Joshua were boys.
- How popular is the name Joshua?
- 4,773 baby boys were named Joshua in the US in 2025, making it the 66th most popular boy name.
- When was Joshua most popular?
- Joshua peaked in 1989, when 44,100 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #3, held for 5 years starting in 2002.
- How many people are named Joshua?
- 1,253,882 babies have been named Joshua in the US since 1880. We estimate about 1,200,705 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 34.
- Where is Joshua most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Joshua was most common in Delaware, at 6.5 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.